IN
THE FOOTSTEPS OF FOOTE: RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN SOUTH INDIAShanti Pappu reports on important finds
of Acheulian tools and animal footprints at Attirampakkam, India.

In the summer of 1863, deep in the heart of South India, the British geologist,
Robert Bruce Foote, made a spectacular discovery. This was of a stone
tool; the first in the Subcontinent to be conclusively identified. The
discovery overturned concepts of human antiquity in India and paved the
away for new avenues of research. Soon after, in the basin of the river
Kortallayar, Foote and his colleague, William King, documented hundreds
of stone tools eroding out of laterites in dry gully beds, near the tiny
hamlet of Attirampakkam, 60 km northwest of the city of Chennai (Madras).
Struck by the abundance of tools and their extreme freshness, they debated
on past 'human' and natural factors which could have led to the concentration
of artefacts at this site. More than a century later, these questions
remain equally relevant. Our ongoing excavations at this site aim at addressing
issues related to the age and nature of hominid occupation, in relation
to changing Pleistocene environments.
In the 1930's,
scholars working in this river basin, identified a sequence of four river
terraces with associated 'evolving' archaeological cultures. This scheme
drawing on similar models developed in the river valleys of France and
England, dominated Indian Palaeolithic research for more than half a century.
Over the last decade, new developments in archaeological theory and methodology
were increasingly influencing Indian prehistorians. In Pakistan, similar
sequences of river terraces and cultures, developed earlier, were being
proved wrong (Rendell et al. 1989). It was thought necessary to reinvestigate
the Kortallayar basin, (Pappu 1996, 1997) with a multidisciplinary approach
aimed at understanding hominid settlement strategies and Quaternary environments.
Within an area of 200 sq km, an 'off-site' approach was adopted with Lower
and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages being mapped across the landscape.
The river basin, bounded by the hills on one side and the Indian Ocean
on the other, yielded evidence of numerous Lower and Middle Palaeolithic
sites. Studies of the Quaternary deposits, revealed that although terraces
existed, they did not in any way correspond to sequences built up earlier.
Instead, a complex picture emerged of weathering of older deposits and
their transport across the landscape via sheet and stream flood and stream
channel processes. Lower to Middle Palaeolithic sites occur in caves,
and in deposits of laterites and ferruginous gravels. Studies of site
formation processes aided in identifying sites in different sedimentary
contexts and helped in isolating well-preserved sites (Pappu 1999), suitable
for further study. Variability in site size, artefact density and assemblage
composition at different sites was revealed, and alternate models of hominid
settlement patterns were built up from ecological and ethnographic studies.
One hypothesis put forward was the possible dry season congregation of
hominids from sites like Attirampakkam, situated near the river, to the
hills during the wet season.

These preliminary studies led to the choice of the site of Attirampakkam
for excavation. The high density of tools, their extreme freshness
and occurrence in low energy deposits all pointed to a well-preserved
site. Preliminary test pits (2 x 2 m) were sunk in 1999 and a
5 x 5 m trench excavated in 2000. Results were startling and have
added new dimensions to the Indian Palaeolithic record. Previous
excavations at the site (1966-67), noted Acheulian artefacts in
a layer of lateritic gravel. Our test pit also revealed a lateritic
gravel with Late Acheulian to Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. However,
underlying the gravel, we came across a deposit of clay, earlier
considered to be pre-Pleistocene, and thus of little archaeological
interest. We took a decision to investigate the clay; and to our
surprise discovered more than 240 Acheulian tools extending from
depths of 3 m to 6.90 m. These included, amongst others, handaxes,
cleavers, borers, scrapers, knives, debitage and cores. Five pieces
belonging to two artefacts were conjoinable. The possibility that
tools were sinking into this compact clay was examined, although
the absence of pebbles, size sorting of tools, and the presence
of horizontally-aligned tools tends to render this improbable.
No other comparable situation or context exists in the Indian
Palaeolithic record. Prof. M. Taieb, Directeur de Recherches at
the CEREGE, Aix-Marseille, France), and Dr. Y. Gunnell, Senior
Lecturer at the Université Denis-Diderot (Paris, France)
are currently directing the study of samples for palaeomagnetic
measurements and a mineralogical and geochemical characterisation
of these laminated clay beds. These studies will aid in obtaining
a better understanding of the age and nature of these clays.

Excavations at Attirampakkam

Acheulian tools found
at the site

This
season's excavation threw up new surprises. On exposing the
surface of the clay, at the point where it lies in direct contact
with the overlying lateritic gravel, 17 round (roughly 15-20
cm diameter) animal footprints, and five hoof marks were revealed.
Five footprints were carefully removed for further study and
identification of the species; and the remaining surface has
been preserved. These are associated with the Acheulian and
are the first of their kind in the Subcontinent, placing the
site on par with the small body of sites in Africa and Europe
yielding evidence of footprints. These, along with the recovery
of four fossil faunal teeth, assume greater importance when
considering the paucity of data for palaeoenvironmental studies
in India.
Attirampakkam
is unique in the Indian Palaeolithic context and has raised
problems encompassing the nature of hominid activities, local
and regional environments, the nature of the Lower to the Middle
Palaeolithic transition and the age of the Indian Acheulian.
It is perhaps fitting to recall the words of Robert Bruce Foote,
who observed, more than a century ago, that questions relating
to this site '... were more easily proposed than solved..'

References
Foote, R.B. 1866. On the Occurrence of Stone Implements in Lateritic
Formations in Various Parts of the Madras and North Arcot Districts.
Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 3rd series, part 11:1-35.
Pappu, S. 1996. Reinvestigation of the Prehistoric Archaeological
Record in the Kortallayar Basin, Tamil Nadu, Man and Environment
XXI:1-23.
Pappu, S. 1997. Pleistocene Environments and Stone Age Adaptations
in the Kortallayar Basin, Tamil Nadu. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Poona.
Pappu, S. 1999. A Study of Natural Site Formation Processes
in the Kortallayar Basin, Tamil Nadu. South India, Geoarchaeology,
An International Journal 14(2): 127-150
Rendell, H.M., R. Dennel and M.A. Halim. 1989. Pleistocene and
Palaeolithic Investigations in the Soan Valley, Northern Pakistan.
Oxford: BAR. International Series 544

DISCOVERY OF MESOLITHIC SITES IN UPPER SINDH
(PAKISTAN) These
recent discoveries were made with the aid of a grant from the Society

Preliminary surveys
carried out in the surroundings of the town of Thari, in the Thar Desert
by members of the "Joint Rohri Hills Project", have revealed
the presence of Mesolithic, early Holocene, stations on the top of the
sand dunes bordering the salt lakes that characterise the region (fig.
1). The first discovery of a Mesolithic site in the area was made in March
1995, when a rich lithic assemblage, including trapezoidal arrowheads,
was collected from the surface of a fixed dune facing the lake of Sain
Sim (LS1). An assemblage of 462 artefacts made from Rohri Hills flint.
It was collected from close to the top of the southern slope of a sand
dune facing the lake. Pieces were scattered over a surface of some 2000
square metres.
The surveys carried
out in January 1999 along the shores of lake Lunwaro Sim (fig. 2) led
to the discovery of another Mesolithic site located on the top of the
south-western dune that delimits the basin to the south (LS2). Its co-ordinates
are 27º01'30" Lat. N. and 68º39'12" Long. E. The assemblage
collected from the surface includes a few geometric microliths, among
which are a backed blade and truncation, a probable lunate, a truncated
bladelet and two microburins. The flint assemblage comes from the top
of a stabilized dune some 13 m high, while the present surface of the
lake basin lies some 10 metres below the sea level. Along the eastern
shore of the lake, a sand terrace was observed 1 metre above the present
shoreline in the exact location of 27º02'02" Lat. N. and 68º40'00"
Long. E. Several freshwater molluscs belonging to the species Parreysia
triembolus (Benson) were collected from the top of this terrace indicating
the presence of an ancient shoreline. A sample of these bivalves was submitted
for radiocarbon dating to the University of Groningen. They produced a
result of 2460±50 BP (GrN-24967). Even though this date needs to
be corrected for the reservoir effect, and the reservoir effect for the
area is absolutely unknown, it is interesting to observe that the lake
table has most probably fluctuated through time and that other samples
are to be collected and dated in order to understand the variations in
the extension of the lake basin in historic and prehistoric times.

The above-mentioned
locations are very similar to that recorded at Pir Nago. Here, along
the southern sand dune cordon that delimits the eastern side of
the lake, a flint assemblage was collected in January 2000. This
assemblage is composed of 128 artefacts flaked from Rohri Hills
flint. Among these are one microbladelet core, one microbladelet
with abrupt retouch along the left side, one fragmented backed point
with abrupt retouch on the left side and one probable pièce
écaillée on a corticated flakelet.
Two more
scatters of flint have been discovered along the same dune some
300 metres north of PN1. They both yielded very poor flint industries,
even though one of them, PN2, might be ascribed to the Mesolithic
because of the presence of a discoid microflakelet core. Nevertheless
more intensive surveys are necessary to define the cultural attribution
of these latter assemblages.
Along the
north eastern edge of the lake, on a terrace lying between 3 and
4 metres above the present shoreline a concentration of freshwater
molluscs has been collected to be identified and then radiocarbon
dated in order to define the age of this shoreline.

Fig. 2 - The salt basin of Lunwâro
Sim from the top of the south-western dune where the Mesolithic
assemblage was found (photograph by P. Biagi)

The last lake to be summarily surveyed in February 2000 is that of Jamal
Shah Sim, some 8.5 km northeast of Thari. A very quick visit to the
eastern shores of this lake has demonstrated that also the last Mesolithic
hunter-gatherers have settled this basin. A rich station has been discovered
along the eastern shore of the lake along the slope of a fossil dune
covered with kankar, a cemented crust of sand grains. This pedological
situation is identical to that recorded for some Mesolithic sites of
the Thar Desert of Rajastan. It is further proof that the sand dunes
were already stabilized by the beginning of the Holocene, when the last
hunter-gatherers settled in the region. As already suggested, the sand
dunes that surround it were undoubtedly stabilized after 9250 BP. Given
the short time at our disposal most of the finds have been left in
situ for future research.
The research currently in progress since 1993 in the Rohri Hills and
their surrounding desert region has demonstrated the existence of Mesolithic
assemblages of microlithic character in the lake territory around the
town of Thari, in the Thar Desert. It is interesting to note that until
a few years ago it was suggested that Mesolithic sites in the lower
Indus Valley of Sindh, had completely disappeared, buried by a thick
alluvium cover. This opinion had most probably been expressed because
of the lack of evidence of microlithic industries in the Rohri Hills
of Upper Sindh, that are rightly supposed to be one of the most important
raw material sources of flint exploited in different periods of prehistory.
Even though none of the Pakistani Mesolithic sites have so far yielded
organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating, it is very probable
that these flint industries represent different periods in the development
of the Mesolithic of the lower Indus Valley. At present their detailed
chronology is difficult to assess given the uncertainty and variability
of the available 14C dates from the
neighbouring Indian sites. It is most probable that the Mesolithic assemblages
discovered in Sindh, characterized by various types of geometrical tools,
are not chronologically contemporaneous; on the contrary they might
indicate different periods of settlement by the last hunter-gatherers
who inhabited the region around the beginning of the Holocene.

Paolo Biagi

'THE
BIG PICTURE': EXCAVATIONS AT FOREST ROAD KINTORE, ABERDEENSHIRE
One of the largest excavations ever undertaken in Scotland is reported
below.

Between May and
December 2000 a programme of evaluation and excavation ahead of a 35 ha
housing development revealed an extensive set of archaeological features
ranging from a possible Neolithic barrow to over 120 Roman ovens. The
excavations at Forest Road, Kintore, Aberdeenshire stripped an area of
9 ha, and represented one of the largest excavations ever undertaken in
Scotland. The development area covered roughly the central quarter of
Deer's Den a 44 ha Roman marching camp thought to relate to Agricola's
campaign. The village of Kintore lies roughly in the eastern half of this
substantial camp. The marching camp's ditch and bank had been upstanding
until the middle of the 19th century
but are now only visible as a cropmark. Prior to these works the only
other known site in the development area was the cropmark of a possible
round-house.
The evaluation
works revealed a greater density of both features and artefacts than would
have been expected from either a marching camp or a plough-truncated landscape.
The reasons for this are two fold: firstly a greater proportion of the
camp's interior was stripped than normal and secondly a considerable amount
of topsoil appears to have accumulated on the northern portion of the
site leading to pockets of better preservation. This led to the survival
of the possible barrow to a height of around 0.7 m. The post-excavation
programme is about to start, however, it is possible to make a few introductory
observations on the field results. It is clear that several broad periods
of activity are present on the site: Early Prehistoric, Later Prehistoric,
Roman and Medieval/Post-Medieval. The Early Prehistoric activity was dominated
by Neolithic material and includes the usual variety of pits containing
Grooved Ware, polished stone axes (at least five were recovered), and
flint tools. However, there were also less common features, for example
two shallow sub-rectilinear pits, measuring approximately 3m wide by 1.5
m long, which each contained dozens of Neolithic pottery sherds. These
pits may be eroded hollows formed within structures, but there were no
extant associated structural remains to confirm this.

Kintore: barrow under excavation

The
excavation also identified an artificial mound defined by a rectilinear
segmented ditch, from which late Neolithic pottery was recovered. The
eastern end of the barrow had been truncated by a 19th century quarry
but the extant section was approximately 44 m long by 9 m wide and up
to 0.7 m high. The barrow had been modified on at least three occasions,
but it is hoped the full sequence will be elucidated during post-excavation
work.
In addition to
the above, an inhumation within a large pit appeared to have also contained
some kind of organic 'box' which held both a flint scraper and a Beaker.
Based on the size of the capstone the box is assumed to have measured
approximately 1 m long by 0.5 m wide and had a pebble floor. Over time
the organic structure rotted away and the capstone fell and crushed the
Beaker.

Kintore: polished axes

The Later
Prehistoric activity is dominated by two clusters of ring-ditch
houses (a timber round-house with a gully or series of gullies within
the interior). The first cluster of eight occupies a slight raised
terrace immediately to the south of the barrow, the second group
of three houses is located some 250 m further south.
Around a
dozen other round-houses have been identified, but these comprise
post-rings; they are not as well preserved and may belong to a different
period. The ring-ditch houses are between 6-8 m in diameter. The
finds recovered from them are dominated by saddle querns - no rotary
querns were recovered at all.
While the
primary aim of the post-excavation works will be to determine if
these houses are successive or contemporary, the ring-ditches demonstrate
considerable variation in the nature and quantity of the finds recovered
from them. For example, one or two of the ring ditches contained
over a dozen saddle querns (the majority of which were placed face
down) and rubbing stones, while others contained only one or two.
There are also highly variable amounts of charcoal in the ring-ditches;
while some have relatively little others contain structural timbers
such as planking or wicker work. This may indicate that some structures
were burnt down, although some burnt structures contained artefacts
while others did not. This may possibly suggest both deliberate
and accidental destruction of houses. These various differences
appear to indicate alternative processes of abandonment of the ring-ditch
houses, but more detailed comment is impossible at present.

Approximately
the centre quarter of the marching camp was excavated, which covered a
260 m stretch of the southern ditch including the south west corner. While
no entrance was found in the south (immediately to the south lies Rollo
Mire, a bog), the ditch did contain a gap which respected the course of
a now dried-up stream. The ditch was U shaped and had an ankle breaker
at its base, possibly indicating a re-cut. Only one artefact was recovered
from the ditch: a blue melon bead. Within the interior of the camp over
120 bi-partite 'ovens' (ie figure-of-8 shaped pits, filled with charcoal
and ash) were excavated. These ranged in size from 0.5 m wide by 1 m long
to 1.5 m wide and 3 m long. In addition to these ovens there were a limited
series of small sub-rectangular pits measuring on average 0.6 m long and
0.4m wide, and up to 0.5m deep. A considerable variety of Roman material
was recovered from the features including shoe tacks, barrel hoops, a
finger ring, numerous nails, the remains of two carbonised bowls and two
possible iron ingots. There was
also a limited range of Medieval and Post-Medieval activity, which appears
to be connected with agricultural processing of some sort. However, prior
to the completion of the post-excavation works more detailed comments
are not possible.
In conclusion the large scale nature of the excavation works at Kintore
has allowed a considerably more in-depth look at what are staples of contract
archaeology: Roman marching camps and plough truncated round-houses. While
at present interpretation is limited by the lack of post- excavation works
it is to be hoped that these works will offer considerably more insight
into the nature of the activity on site.

Murray Cook
AOC Archaeology Group

EXCAVATION
OF THE BRAEHEAD ENCLOSURE, GLASGOW: AN INVITATION Excavation and, more unusually,
Educational Packs are planned for this site.

An enclosure
comprising three oval ditches identified as a cropmark site at Braehead,
Glasgow; the location of a large modern shopping and commercial complex.
The site lies on a low, hardly discernible sandy knoll on the floodplain
of the river Clyde. The site is threatened by further commercial development
and was therefore subjected to an archaeological evaluation carried
out by AOC Archaeology Group in April to May 2000.
The evaluation
revealed an enclosure measuring 76 m x 60 m with three severely truncated
oval ditches and a series of associated palisades including wattle
fencing. The entrance faced the east, presumably protecting the interior
from the prevailing northwest and westerly winds. One extremely degraded
fragment of wood was recovered from the northern outer ditch, but
no other waterlogged organic remains were encountered. Within the
interior were a probable ring-ditch house, a post-slot structure and
numerous post-holes indicative of other domestic or ancillary structures.
Only one artefact, a spherical slate disc was recovered from the fill
of the northern outer ditch terminal.
A similar oval
ditched enclosure, measuring about 42 m x 36 m, located a few hundred
metres to the west, was excavated in the 1970s. Waterlogged material
from the base of the V-shaped ditch dated the feature to 1930±140
BP (SRR-576) and 1640±80 BP (SRR-577). It is possible that
the Braehead enclosure is similar in date, although given its form
and the apparent multiple-phasing of the various palisades its inception
may even possibly lie within the late Bronze Age.
Given the poor
state of preservation of the site it has been agreed between the developers,
Glasgow Council and Historic Scotland that the site should be fully
excavated. The excavation is due to start May 2001 and to continue
for 10 to 12 weeks. This includes the production of a comprehensive
public participation package, designed to attract a broad spectrum
including the public, local schools and local societies. The focus
of the public participation package is an on-site exhibition that
will run for the duration of the excavation. The exhibition will be
staffed by a qualified archaeologist who will also lead tours of the
site from an elevated viewing platform.
An education
pack designed in line with current 5-14 curriculum guidelines has
been produced and is available to download from AOC Archaeology's
web-site, http://www.aocarchaeology.com/braehead.
It will enable pupils to develop the skill strands of planning, recording,
interpreting, presenting and evaluating and well as develop informed
attitudes to Scotland's cultural heritage and its preservation. At
the end of the exhibition children will be encouraged to enter a competition
to guess the age of the site. Furthermore pupils will be able to achieve
a greater understanding of field archaeology by using the on-site
simulated excavation zone, located within arms reach of the 'real'
archaeologists.
Continued participation
and interest in the excavation will be encouraged through free access,
the use of volunteers and a weekly updated diary page on the AOC Archaeology's
web-site. The site will be open to the public at weekends and by appointment
during the week.

Clare Ellis

NINE
LADIES PHOTO-CALL Prehistoric Society members are asked to help a study of
erosion at this site.

Nine Ladies stone circle, showing
the erosion a few years after the removal of the Victorian wall.

The Nine Ladies
stone-circle on Stanton Moor, Derbyshire, has been suffering serious problems
of erosion in recent years, largely due to the increasing number of visitors
trampling among the orthostats, but partly caused by vandalism. Trent
& Peak Archaeological Unit (working on behalf of English Heritage
and in conjunction with the Peak District National Park Authority) has
been compiling data to illustrate the rate of erosion in the hope of defining
its causes more closely and thereby arriving at some means of managing
the problem more effectively (see Derbyshire Archaeological Journal
119 (1999), 288-90). As a result, there are plentiful photographs (in
addition to metrical records) for the period since the late-1980s, but
far fewer to help in understanding the patterns of wear that may have
been inflicted upon the monument before then. Many prehistorians will
have walked over Stanton Moor at various times during the 20th century,
and many will have been armed with a camera. So this note is by way of
an appeal to members of the Prehistoric Society to aid attempts to preserve
Nine Ladies, by dipping into their personal archives and letting us know
of any photographs they own that might be informative. We are particularly
interested to see photographs of either the stone-circle or the outlying
orthostat (the 'King') before 1985, when Victorian walls, built to encompass
the circle and the outlier separately, were demolished. A few published
photographs include the wall around the circle (e.g. Archaeological
Journal 123 (1966), pl. I.A), but none, so far as we are aware, depict
the wall around the King. Your photographs that include either wall, or
indeed those taken immediately after their demolition, would be especially
welcome.

SAINT-MARTIN,
LESSER ANTILLES In the December issue of PAST,
there was an interesting report of the investigations of prehistoric settlements
and social organisation in the Lesser Antilles. This stimulated a French
reader to offer information on another Caribbean site since they participated
in the fieldwork in 2000.

Dominique Bonnissent
has conducted a large exploration of the site of "Hope Estate"
on the Island of St-Martin from 1997 until last year. This Saladoïd
inland settlement is located in the north-east part of the island. A topographical
survey of the whole site has revealed the spatial organisation of the
settlement. The oval dwelling area has post holes and pits containing
abundant ceramics and burials. The midden material was deposited on the
peripheral belt of this surface and 14C
dates indicate a chronological occupation from 500 BC to 700 AD. A first
stratified level belongs to the Huecan-Saladoïd period followed by
a major Cedrosan-Saladoïd occupation. Environmental and sediment
analyses are underway on samples issued from well-stratified, but complex,
levels. Studies on the botanical and faunal assemblages (vertebrate and
invertebrate, mollusc etc.) are part of the research. The project is supported
by the Ministère de la Culture (DRAC Guadeloupe) and by the local
archaeological association (AAHE) with the collaboration of undergraduates
and specialists belonging to various universities and laboratories (Institut
du Quaternaire à Bordeaux; Institut de Botanique à Montpellier,
URA 1415 CNRS; Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville,
etc.). In 2000, as part of the research program on Saint-Martin, an evaluation
was conducted by Dominique Bonnissent on a post-Saladoïd site, Baie
aux Prunes, on the western coast and two others were rescued at Baie Orientale.
The first one (preceramic, dated between 800 and 400 BC) offers evidence
of several camping places where all sort of activities were performed:
sea-shell consumption, working of volcanic stone and shell tools. The
second site, post-Saladoïd, consists of midden deposits with abundant
artefacts. In 2001 evaluations will be conducted by D. Bonnissent on four
other Amerindian sites whose existence has been demonstrated by preliminary
surveys. The research aims to obtain evidence of the phases of human occupation
of the island of Saint-Martin and thus indirectly of the whole of the
Lesser Antilles.

Claude Burnez
(burnez@wanadoo.fr)

burnez@wanadoo.fr

THE
DARTMOOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND BRACKEN PROJECT

The
central aim of the project is to examine and quantify the physical and
chemical impact of bracken rhizomes on sensitive archaeological deposits.
Much of Dartmoor's rich archaeological landscape is often perceived
as being generally stable, with only occasional damage as a result of
visitor or agricultural pressures. The picture is however, probably
much more complex, and in particular, work carried out by botanists
indicates that bracken is causing both physical and chemical damage
to the areas which it colonises. The impact of the plant on underlying
geology and geomorphology is now being appreciated, whilst in Scotland,
work at Lairg has indicated the often considerable physical impact of
the rhizomes on archaeological deposits. Bracken establishes itself
on relatively well drained ground and on Dartmoor this often coincides
with archaeological remains, which means that large numbers are seasonally
obscured, and the clearance of the plant could be justified on aesthetic
grounds alone. The potential problem is however possibly much greater
than the inconvenience of being denied access and past work has suggested
that the archaeological information held within each site maybe being
severely compromised or even destroyed. Given the nature of this threat
to such an important archaeological resource it is clearly of paramount
importance that the scale of the problem be assessed and quantified.
The central aim of the Dartmoor Archaeology and Bracken Project
is to accurately quantify the scale of the problem and establish the
precise nature of the impact on archaeological remains.
Only excavation could provide the answers and after a long search, a
prehistoric round house near Kes Tor was selected for examination. The
house forms part of an extensive and well preserved prehistoric field
system and measures 8.9 m in diameter. The walls of the house are composed
of huge granite orthostats and this gives the site a robust appearance.
This is confirmed by its survival through at least one period of historic
field building and later afforestation. The interior of the building
is, however infested with bracken and it is suspected that the associated
rhizomes are causing considerable unseen damage. Research to date indicates
that the bracken infestation is just over 20 years old, making it possible
to examine the impact of the plant over a relatively short period of
time.

Excavation

Two seasons
of excavation, each lasting two weeks have so far been completed.
Immediately prior to the excavation, a detailed survey of the
bracken plants growing within the building was carried out. This
survey recorded the position of each bracken stipe (stem) and
information concerning the height and number of fronds. This information
is being used to demonstrate the character of the correlation
between the varying density of plants visible at the surface with
the character of underlying damage caused by the rhizomes. Superficial
examination of the results indicates that there is a considerable
variation in both the density of plants and their heights. In
particular, it was observed that the areas adjacent to the large
orthostats generally contained both the greatest density and tallest
plants. A total of 2,291 bracken plants were recorded with over
62% of the plants being between 1.3 m and 1.8 m high, with the
smallest being 0.2 m high and the largest standing up to 2.3 m.

The rhizome mat adjacent to the house
wall

The rhizomes encountered in trench
2: the impact on the archaeological stratigraphy is considerable

Implications

Our
work so far has generated a number of thought-provoking statistics
and resulting ideas which highlight the likely magnitude of
bracken impact on archaeological deposits. These are presented
below in no particular order, but taken together emphasize the
threat posed to archaeological sites by bracken.

1. A total of 2,291 bracken plants were growing within the interior
of the house which measures 62.18 m2
in area. This represents an average of 36.84 plants per m2.
Each of these plants grows from the underlying rhizome mat displacing
all deposits which it encounters. Therefore each year about
733.51 cm3 of material within
each square metre equivalent to 45,609 cm3
within the entire building is moved in this way. Assuming the
same density of growth over a period of 20 years a total of
912,193 cm3 would be displaced
by stipe growth alone. It would therefore take at least 164
years for all of the soil to be moved. This figure may make
it seem that there is no immediate threat to archaeological
deposits from this activity. However, displacement caused by
annual growth of stipes is only a small part of the whole picture
and the same statistic presented in a timescale which we can
more easily appreciate is that unchecked, 10% of the deposits
above the rhizome mat would be displaced within 16 years.

2. Within the rhizome mat itself, it is not currently possible
to establish the level of damage which will occur in the future.
It is however possible to establish a minimum level of displacement
caused during the past 20 years. Within the parts of the upper
rhizome mat examined an average of 8.3% of the soil has been
displaced and in the areas most severely affected this figure
rises to 23%. This level of damage is in addition to the damage
caused by the stipes alone. Taken together the rhizome mat and
stipes have in the past 20 years displaced over 20% of the archaeological
deposits extending up to 0.26m below the surface.

3. Current damage caused by the rhizomes is not limited to the mat
and the area affected by the stipes. Rhizomes were encountered at depth
extending into and through the site of the prehistoric occupation surface.
At this level an average of 1.5% of the current volume of deposits had
been displaced by active rhizome activity with this figure rising to
5% in places. These figures may suggest that active damage to the archaeological
deposits at this level is insignificant, but clear indications of much
more extensive disturbance in the past indicate that this is cumulative.

4. Most archaeological deposits on Dartmoor are shallow and well within
the reach of the rhizome mat uncovered. Clearly for this work to have
a broader significance, further work will need to be carried out within
a variety of structures in different topographical situations.

5. Much of the damage caused to prehistoric levels at this site appears
to have been caused by previous bracken infestations. Bracken growing
in the centuries immediately following abandonment would have taken
less than 100 years to destroy the prehistoric occupation surfaces.
This unwelcome conclusion may mean that a significant percentage of
the currently infested and uninfested prehistoric sites have already
been damaged to varying degrees.

Conclusion

Current
archaeological management strategies rightly favour the preservation
of archaeological structures and deposits. Excavation is destructive
and consequently many archaeologists consider it inappropriate to dig
unthreatened sites. Dartmoor's archaeology is generally perceived as
unthreatened and this probably in a large part explains why so few sites
have been excavated in recent years. It is argued that the excavation
and consequent destruction of sites should be left until our methods
are as near perfect as possible and until then all our efforts should
be extended to protecting the sites for future generations, who will
undoubtedly have a range of available techniques which make ours seem
primitive. This sentiment is one with which this writer wholeheartedly
agrees, but at the same time we must be sure that the sites are truly
stable and that we are not merely overseeing the gradual destruction
of important evidence, which not even the most sophisticated of future
techniques will be able to retrieve.
Our excavation has confirmed that bracken destroys archaeological information.
Within the current bracken rhizome mat, considerable damage is being
caused by the 6.45 km of rhizomes, whilst within lower parts of the
stratigraphy there is good evidence to suggest that a significant amount
of information has been destroyed by one or more previous infestations.
Much work remains to be completed before the precise character and varying
extent of the damage caused by bracken rhizomes can be quantified.

WARFARE,
VIOLENCE AND SLAVERY IN PREHISTORY AND PROTOHISTORY The Prehistoric Society and The
University of Sheffield Archaeology Society, February 2-3, 2001, Sheffield.

Prehistoric
warfare has become a hot topic in recent years. In the early days of archaeology
the prehistoric past was perceived as an appallingly dangerous place,
full of violence and savagery of all kinds. Over time, concepts of prehistoric
warfare formalised into models of culture change based on invasion, displacement
and colonisation. Since the demise of invasionist explanations, however,
warfare has faded dramatically from archaeological accounts of the past,
creating what Keeley (1996) has dubbed a 'pacified past', where violence
and aggression were eerily, and rather unconvincingly, absent.
A host of recent
publications have begun to re-establish the importance of warfare and
aggression in prehistoric societies (e.g. Keeley 1996, Carman 1997, Carman
and Harding 1999, Osgood and Monks 2000), although there are wide differences
in opinion over the scale, nature and ubiquity of pre- state conflict.
Keeley's work, in particular, excites considerable debate, and it is a
pity that it has not yet been subject to thorough discussion in print.
The conference, organised by Mike Parker Pearson and Ash Lenton, was thus
a useful chance to air some of the key issues that have emerged over the
last few years.
The conference
began with a useful scene-setting presentation by Robert Layton on the
various attempts to explain warfare from an evolutionary psychological
perspective. Layton concludes that warfare was an emergent, rather than
innate factor in human societies, thus its occurrence has to be seen as
dependent on particular sets of circumstances. Pia Nystrom followed with
an examination of aggression in non-human primates which highlighted some
of the complexities which underlie popular accounts of 'chimp warfare'.
John and Patricia
Carman followed with a review of archaeological and anthropological approaches
to the study of warfare, including some of the results from their ongoing
'Bloody Meadows' project, which focuses on documented battles. They presented
an interesting case study on the Battle of Kadesh, where a Hittite army
was routed by the Egyptians under Ramesses II, although both sides seemed
to have bumbled around in a rather inefficient way. The aim was to show
the formal, even ritualised, aspects of ancient battles, which contrast
with the cold, rational analysis of conventional military historians.
The point is an important one, although Kadesh was perhaps not the best
illustration, reliant as it was on size estimates for the Hittite army
provided by none other than the victorious Ramesses.
Next came Chris
Knüsel with an analysis of the well-publicised mass grave from the
Battle of Towton (not exactly pre- or protohistoric, but with a site this
good, who cares?). This was followed by Nick Thorpe on Mesolithic warfare,
highlighting the wide geographical and chronological range of generally
unambiguous evidence for organised aggression in prehistory. Roger Mercer
then presented a careful consideration of the criteria available for the
identification of warfare in prehistory, showing how these are all present
in the British Neolithic. Indeed it is increasingly striking that the
evidence for Neolithic warfare now tends to outweigh that for the Iron
Age in Britain.
Regional studies
by Harry Fokkens and David Fontijn dealt usefully with the north European
Bronze Age, while a comparable study of the Slovakian and Moravian Nitra
culture was provided by Andreas Hårde. A detailed presentation of
the Dutch MBA Wassenaar multiple burial by Leendert Louwe Kooijmans highlighted
the way in which one-off finds can occasionally shatter our pre-conceptions;
in this case of an apparently peaceful and largely undifferentiated society.
This paper raised one of the few points of active disagreement when Chris
Knüsel suggested that the disposition of some of the dead appeared
to result from natural post-mortem processes rather than the careful arrangement
of the bodies suggested by the excavator.
Further emphasis
on the potential impact of individual sites came from Richard Osgood,
who opened Day 2 with an account of his re-excavation at Tormarton in
south Gloucestershire (as aired on a recent Meet the Ancestors).
The skeletal remains with embedded bronze spear-points, well-known since
the late 1960s, can now perhaps be set in the context of a LBA boundary
dispute which got rather out of hand (although, as Mike Parker Pearson
suggested, the apparent disarticulation of some of the body parts from
the recent excavations may be hard to reconcile with the single episode
of aggression, death and deposition favoured by Osgood).
Sue Bridgford's
analysis of British and Irish LBA weaponry stressed the extent to which
our understanding is limited by variable patterns of deposition. Bridgford
believes that more or less every male in the period may have possessed
a sword although only rarely will such items find their way into recoverable
contexts. Melanie Giles' presentation on the Iron Age square-barrow cemeteries
of East Yorkshire again highlighted the male associations of 'warrior'
paraphernalia, setting these in opposition to an equally structured set
of material associations associated with female burials.
A particularly
notable feature of the conference was the strong representation of Iberia,
where there has been much recent emphasis on the study of prehistoric
and protohistoric warfare. Papers by Jose Freire and Eduardo Sanchez-Moreno
explored aspects of Iron Age warfare in western Iberia, highlighting the
wealth of evidence for protohistoric violence in that region.
Only two papers
focussed explicitly on slavery. Miranda Green provided an overview of
issues relating to the inter-linking concepts of slavery, ritual bondage
and sacrifice during the later Iron Age of Europe. This was a useful counterpoint
to the overall concentration on larger-scale warfare. Timothy Taylor concluded
the conference with a thought-provoking paper stressing the sheer scale
of slavery in prehistory (or at least its potential scale) and
the implications that this must have for all aspects of our understanding
of the period. His concluding piece on the well-known Viking-Rus sacrifice
of a young servant girl at her master's ostentatious funeral provided
an apt reminder of the appalling individual reality behind the often rather
anonymous archaeological evidence for prehistoric violence.
Several of the
papers here, and much of the recent literature on the subject, have been
concerned with establishing the extent of warfare and slavery at various
times and places in pre- and protohistory. A very clear case has now been
made that these aspects of the human past have been drastically underplayed
by the last couple of generations of archaeologists. Perhaps the next
step will be to assess the ways in which the reality or threat of physical
violence impinged on wider processes of social change, and on the lives
of individuals within past societies.
Overall, this was
an extremely well-organised conference with a balanced and engaging programme.
The published proceedings should be well worth the attention of anyone
with an interest in prehistoric warfare and associated themes.

FOOT
AND MOUTH As
PAST goes to press the epidemic is still raging with devastating consequences.

Few archaeologists
involved in fieldwork of any description have escaped the knock-on effect
of the Foot and Mouth outbreak. Contracts have been put on hold, dissertations
redirected, incomes radically cut.
As both an archaeologist
and livestock farmer (we have some 2500 pigs and 650 sheep), plus helping
run a small racing yard, my life has altered out of all recognition
over the last few weeks. All those things one takes for granted have
to be mulled over, the need for journeys justified. The vehicles reek
of disinfectant, the horses cannot leave the yard.
What has been
really touching has been the concern expressed by colleagues in the
archaeological world. To the many who have been in contact, not just
with myself but with other landowners and farmers, a heartfelt thankyou.
It is very hard on those archaeologists who rely on "the countryside"
for their work and research but acting responsibly now will encourage
landowners to grant permission for fieldwork in the future.
One can only
hope that by the time this is in print the worst will be over and that
we will be able to get our lives back together and plan a fulfilling
season's fieldwork.

Gill Swanton

BOOK
REVIEW Heaven and
Hell and Other Worlds of the Dead, compiled and edited by Alison Sheridan.
Edinburgh. National Museums of Scotland. ISBN 1-901663-41-8. Paperback,
168 pages, 126 illustrations.

This volume from
the National Museums of Scotland is a journey through the plethora of
views of mortality, death and the afterlife from around the world, both
past and present. Large colour photographs on almost every other page
place the emphasis firmly on the material culture associated with various
beliefs and practices, with commentary from 49 experts on or practitioners
of these faiths, cults and religions showing that these items, far from
being simply "museum-pieces", played and continue to play
a vital role in the ways in which people come to terms with their own
mortality and the mortality of others. Some periods in prehistory are
dominated by funerary remains so this book, accompanying an exhibition,
is a useful addition to the literature.
The book is divided
into six sections. The first five, deal with themes that are seen to
be common to global responses to death through time: certain treatment
of the body, notions of a 'journey' after death, possessions for use
in the afterlife, notions of a world of the dead, and the role of the
dead in the world of the living. Documented present and past practices
and beliefs are juxtaposed with inferred archaeological ones, from manufacture
of Ghanaian fantasy coffins to Urnfield cremation practices, from belief
in Elvis as a holy prophet to the Chinese use of 'Otherworld Bank' cheque-books
and credit-cards to bribe the judges in the courts of the afterworld.
Although the practices
of the world religions are covered in some depth, these are placed within
their global context, with Fijian cannibalism shown simply as an alternative
way of dealing with the body to Hindu cremation. And closer to home,
an emphasis runs throughout the book on the peculiarly Scottish way
of dealing with death and the dead. From Burke and Hare to lykewakes
and the Scots diaspora of the past 350 years as witnessed on headstone
inscriptions in Scottish graveyards, we see that rites and rituals from
far-flung corners of the globe are no more bizarre than those practised
at home.
The final section,
'Here and Now', discusses the continuing hold that "the wish to
know what happens 'on the other side' has on us, and presents the responses
given to two questions various members of today's society: 'What do
you believe happens after death?' and 'Do you live your life in a particular
way with respect to this?'.
Humanist, Pagan
and agnostic voices stand alongside those of world religions showing
that although there is no consensus with regards these questions, they
have always and will always inspire faith, reason, dogma and wonder
in all peoples.

Ben Roy

CONFERENCES

PAST is happy
to publicise conferences on this page. Please send details to the editor
following the format below. If you want to use a PAST mailing to send
out flyers please contact the editor for a quote.

Iron Age Research Student Seminar: 2.6.2001- 3.6.2001
The fourth Iron Age Research Student Seminar will provide a forum through
which students can present papers in an informal atmosphere. This year
the conference will be hosted by the Department of Archaeology, University
of Durham. It is intended that the papers will primarily be presented
by researchers engaged in existing MA/MSc and MPhil/PhD projects. However,
the IARSS welcomes anybody who has an interest in current Iron Age research.
On the second day, there will be an optional trip to the late Iron Age
site at Stanwick, North Yorkshire. This is the first call for papers;
each should last no more than twenty minutes. Poster presentations relating
to ongoing research are also welcome. For further information, please
see

www.durham.ac.uk/iarss.2001

Abstracts of approx. 500 words should be sent to

IARSS,
Department of Archaeology,
University of Durham,
South Road,
Durham, DH1 3LE

or emailed by 31st March 2001.

iarss.2001@durham.ac.uk

Engendering the Landscape (6th Women in Archaeology Conference),
Australia: 8.7.01-10.7.01
This lively conference series is open to all genders and this year its
focus is on landscape gender issues. Aboriginal landscape use and archaeological
interpretations of gender in the landscape will both be covered. Further
details available from

Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Late Iron Age, Kirkwall:
6.9.2001-10.9.2001
The late Iron Age in Orkney represents a fascinating period of change
from the time of massive Broch settlements at the start of the millennium
to the early medieval Pictish Orkney which was overwhelmed by newcomers
from Scandinavia in the late 8th century. The conference will feature
new discoveries and theories and will include opportunities for participants
to take part in study tours of Iron Age sites including Maehowe. There
will also be a day of demonstration of Iron Age skills and public lectures
in Stromness. Registration costs £90 (£80 before June 1st)
or £40 unwaged. For details contact

Kate Towsey,
Seaview,
Burray,
Orkney, KW17 2SS

tel 01856-731227

kate.towsey@talk21.com

TAG 2001 (Theoretical Archaeology Group): 13.12.01-15.12.01
This year's TAG conference will be held at University College Dublin
and will include sessions on migration in prehistory, sacred architecture,
castles, public archaeology, figurines, landscapes, luscious lithics
and neo-colonial pasts, among others. For further details, contact